Illustration of NASA's DART spacecraft prior to impact at the Didymos binary asteroid system NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft prior to impact at the Didymos binary asteroid system
Illustration of NASA's DART spacecraft prior to impact at the Didymos binary asteroid system
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, collided with Dimorphos, a small asteroid measuring 525 feet in diameter that lis located roughly 7 million miles from Earth at 7:14 p.m. ET on Monday. Impact was confirmed when the video signal that had recorded Dimorphos as DART drew near dramatically cut off.
"I believe it's going to teach us how, one day, to protect our own planet from an incoming asteroid," Nelson said in a video statement following impact.